Funnier than the original, and directed better too, Horrible Bosses 2 is a rare sequel that improves on the original while treading new ground.

by Daniel Hodgson

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There are no horrible bosses in Horrible Bosses 2. The sequel is instead an opportunity to revisit familiar characters, family-man Dale, ladies’-man Kurt, and career-man Nick, who are once again in over their heads.

The plot, in short: when a business deal goes bad, Nick, Kurt and Dale kidnap the son (Chris Pine) of the CEO (Christoph Waltz) who dicked them over. Hilarity and shenanigans ensue.

Horrible Bosses 2 is a rare sequel that’s better than the original. The story gets off the ground faster, seeing as how they have only one scoundrel to get even with instead of three, so there’s comparatively less to set-up. The overall pacing remains quicker throughout, owing to a leaner, more focused story.

The direction is better as well. Although it offered an appealing premise, Horrible Bosses was static and lifeless—characters either stood still or sat still, and the bulk of it was filmed in one of three shots: close-up, close-up, or close-up. Sean Anders takes over the reigns from Seth Gordon for the sequel, and he gets his actors busy and moving. Much of the humor is in how Anders stages his thesps, such as when it looks as if Dale is putting a great big smile on Kurt’s face, when no such thing is happening.

And it’s funnier, too, right from the get-go. Scenes like to play with expectations, such as when the trio of white guys are walking like bad-ass thugs in slow-motion, when…well, you’ll see. Kurt and Dale (Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day) are just as farcically stupid as ever, and the situations they find themselves are wilder, such as when Nick (Jason Bateman) finds himself in a Sex-Addicts Anonymous meeting run by Julia, portrayed by returning player Jennifer Aniston.

Humorous but bitter, Horrible Bosses 2 runs deep with economic discontent, feeling close to comedies that came out during the Occupy Movement in the U.S., such as 2011’s Tower Heist, or as recent as last year’s Identity Theft (which, as it happens, also starred Jason Bateman). Like those films, Horrible Bosses 2 is a revenge fantasy on the 1%, who control the wealth and have hijacked the American Dream. Working with a similar template as those films, the crimes of the wealthy are retributed with good old-fashioned theft, kidnapping, or in the case of the original Horrible Bosses, attempted murder. It’s delicious wish-fulfillment, and the box-office success of these films come as no surprise.

About the Author

Daniel Hodgson

Daniel has a degree in film from the University of Texas at Austin, and writes about himself in the third-person, because that's the fashion.